Quranic root
خفي
kh · f · y
The root has two opposed semantic orientations: concealment or imperceptibility, and manifestation or emergence from concealment.
The concealment branch develops into hiddenness, secrecy, self-concealment, covered things, and things imperceptible to the senses or mind. A contrasting branch denotes appearing, making apparent, bringing forth, or the faint flashing of lightning; the Quranic vocabulary chiefly represents the concealment branch.
- Maqāyīs · row 1624
- Mufradāt · row 425
- 8
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 34
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
خَفِيَ
khafiya
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 6 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To be hidden, imperceptible, or unapparent.
Used of something that does not become apparent to perception or understanding; Quranic occurrences express hiddenness rather than an act of concealment by an agent.
- Lane · entry 19683
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:5word 4
“is hidden”
Quran 41:40word 7
“hidden”
أَخْفَى
ʾakhfā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 18 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To hide, conceal, or keep something secret.
A transitive causative use, including concealing information, actions, objects, or inward matters; passive forms mean that something is hidden.
- Lane · entry 19683
- Mufradāt · row 425
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:271word 7
“you keep it secret”
Quran 24:31word 68
“they conceal”
Quran 32:17word 5
“is hidden”
Quran 20:15word 5
“[I] hide it”
To make something apparent or bring it out from concealment.
A divergent lexical reading or interpretation attested for the Quranic expression in 20:15; it should not be confused with the ordinary Quranic Form IV sense of concealing.
- Lane · entry 19683
اِسْتَخْفَى
āistakhfā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To seek to hide oneself or remain concealed.
A reflexive or intransitive construction, commonly with مِنْ, expressing an attempt to conceal oneself from someone or something.
- Lane · entry 19683
- Mufradāt · row 425
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:108word 1
“They seek to hide”
Quran 11:5word 5
“that they may hide”
أَخْفَى
ʾakhfā
- Part of speech
- Adjective · comparative
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
More hidden, more concealed, or less perceptible.
A comparative adjective in the Quranic expression contrasting degrees of concealment or hiddenness.
- Lane · entry 19693
- Lane · entry 19683
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:7word 7
“and the more hidden”
مُسْتَخْفٍ
mustakhfin
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Hiding himself; concealed from view.
The active participle of اِسْتَخْفَى. In the Quranic passage, an alternative interpretation takes it in the opposite sense, “appearing,” as noted below.
- Lane · entry 19699
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:10word 11
“(is) hidden”
Appearing or becoming apparent.
An alternative interpretation reported for the Quranic expression in 13:11; the more direct contextual sense is one who hides himself by night.
- Lane · entry 19699
خَافِيَة
khāfiyah
- Part of speech
- Active participle · substantivized
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Something hidden or secret; a concealed matter.
A feminine active participle used substantivally for what is unapparent or concealed.
- Lane · entry 19696
Selected Quran examples
Quran 69:18word 6
“any secret”
خَفِيّ
khafiyy
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 2 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Hidden, imperceptible, secret, or stealthy.
Describes something unapparent or difficult to perceive, and by extension an action or manner kept from public notice.
- Lane · entry 19693
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:3word 5
“secret”
Quran 42:45word 10
“stealthy”
خُفْيَة
khufyah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 2 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Secretly, privately, or quietly; inwardly and unobtrusively.
An adverbial noun used especially in prayer or supplication, where it can emphasize secrecy, inward devotion, quietness, or stillness rather than public display.
- Lane · entry 19683
- Mufradāt · row 425
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:63word 10
“and secretly”
Quran 7:55word 4
“and privately”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:271تُخْفُوهَاyou keep it secret
- 2:284تُخْفُوهُyou conceal it
- 3:5يَخْفَىٰis hidden
- 3:29تُخْفُوا۟you conceal
- 3:118تُخْفِىconceals
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 27 Classical meanings
خَفِيَ
To become apparent or perceptible to someone; to emerge from concealment.
The opposite branch of the verb, especially in the construction خَفِيَ لَهُ, and in idioms for what was concealed becoming manifest.
- Lane · entry 19683
خَفَى
To make something apparent, remove its covering, or draw it forth from concealment.
A transitive usage reported alongside the concealment sense; the distinction between the two opposite meanings is lexically disputed.
- Lane · entry 19683
خَفَى
To make a voice perceptible or audible.
Applied specifically to making a voice heard, including a voice accompanied by moaning.
- Lane · entry 19683
أَخْفَى
To suppress, stifle, lower, soften, or utter a voice faintly.
A specialized use with the voice or speech; it describes reduced audibility rather than concealment of an object.
- Lane · entry 19683
خَفِيَ
To make oneself unapparent, lurk, lie in ambush, or hide oneself from someone; hence, in a reported idiom, to steal covertly.
A Classical reflexive use distinct from the Form X Quranic verb; the lexical reports vary in the forms used for this construction.
- Lane · entry 19683
خَفَا
To flash faintly, said of lightning.
A separate root branch concerning a weak or slight flash of lightning.
- Lane · entry 19683
خَفًا
An imperceptible, unapparent, latent, or obscure thing.
A nominal use for something not readily perceived or evident.
- Lane · entry 19689
خَفِيَ البَطْنِ
Lank in the belly.
An idiomatic description of a man whose belly is slender or narrow.
- Lane · entry 19690
خَفَاء
Hiddenness, concealment, or a secret.
Also used in expressions for acting covertly; a traditional idiom can associate it with what becomes manifest after concealment, or with low ground.
- Lane · entry 19691
خَفَاء
Low or depressed ground.
A specialized or idiomatic interpretation of خَفَاء in the expression بَرِحَ الخَفَاءُ.
- Lane · entry 19691
خِفَاء
A covering or garment used to cover another thing.
Includes a wrap or garment worn over other clothes and any covering placed over an object.
- Lane · entry 19692
خَفِيّ
A flower calyx or covering of a flower.
Usually occurring in the plural أَخْفِيَةُ النَّوْرِ.
- Lane · entry 19692
خِفَاء
The eyes, figuratively described as coverings of drowsiness.
A conventional figurative expression, أَخْفِيَةُ الكَرَى.
- Lane · entry 19692
خَفِيّ
One who secludes himself from people or whose place is concealed from them.
A substantivized personal description derived from the adjective of hiddenness.
- Lane · entry 19693
خَفِيَّة
A deep or concealed well, especially one that has filled up and been dug or cleared out again.
A specialized noun for a well whose water or location is not readily apparent, or which has been reopened after being filled.
- Lane · entry 19694
خَفِيَّة
A dense or tangled thicket serving as a lion’s covert; also a place frequented by lions.
A specialized environmental noun and place-name usage.
- Lane · entry 19694
خَفِيَّة
A slight taint, touch, or infection of insanity.
Used in the expression بِهِ خَفِيَّةٌ.
- Lane · entry 19694
الخَافِي
A jinn or other hidden being; in an opposing usage, mankind.
The jinn sense is explained by their concealing themselves from human sight; the contrary mankind sense is separately reported in the same lexical discussion.
- Lane · entry 19695
الخَافِي
Mankind or a human being.
A contrary or opposite lexical use reported for the same form, not a general synonym for every occurrence of الخافي.
- Lane · entry 19695
خَافِيَة
Land inhabited by jinn.
A specialized description of a place associated with hidden beings.
- Lane · entry 19695
خَافِيَة
A feather in the concealed or lower part of a bird’s wing.
The plural الخَوَافِي denotes specified lower or hidden wing feathers, with variant technical counts in the lexical reports.
- Lane · entry 19696
- Mufradāt · row 425
الخَوَافِي
Palm branches growing below the central branches of the palm.
A dialectal usage, called العَوَاهِنُ in the Hijaz.
- Lane · entry 19696
اِخْتَفَى
To be slain secretly or without the killing becoming known.
A rare reported usage; the source itself notes that it may reflect a transcription of a passive form.
- Lane · entry 19687
اِخْتَفَى
To draw a dead body from a grave in order to steal its grave-clothes.
A specialized grave-robbing usage.
- Lane · entry 19687
اِخْتَفَى
To dig or clear out a well.
A specialized transitive usage reported for the verb.
- Lane · entry 19687
مُخْتَفٍ
A rifler of graves or a grave-robber.
The active participle is explained either by extracting grave-clothes or by stealing covertly; it is a specialized noun.
- Lane · entry 19698
اليَدُ المُسْتَخْفِيَة
The hand of a thief or grave-robber, taking covertly rather than by force.
A conventional legal expression contrasted with the hand of one who seizes openly or by force.
- Lane · entry 19699
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The expression in 20:15 has divergent lexical readings and interpretations: making the Hour apparent, removing its covering, or concealing it. The Form IV senses distinguish the ordinary concealment use from this reported alternative.
For مُسْتَخْفٍ in 13:11, the direct sense is hiding by night, but a reported interpretation takes the form as appearing; this opposite sense is retained as a qualified Quran-attested alternative.
The report that اِخْتَفَى can mean being slain secretly is explicitly qualified in the lexical evidence as possibly reflecting a transcription of a passive form.